How to Unclog a Shower

One of the most frustrating things in life is to be taking a shower and realize that the drain is clogged. A shower is the most relaxing and personal times of the day and, realizing that you have to unclog it can completely ruin the near meditative mood. It is especially terrible if you do not know exactly how to unclog a shower drain.

But never fear. The process is very simple, and literally anyone could do it without a problem. If you have to unclog a shower drain, you can most likely have it done in a matter of minutes. At the most, it will take an hour or two of messing around to have the more gnarly cases of shower clogging taken care of.

Hair Problems

First of all, you will see if the problem is easily remedied. It depends on your drain mechanism, but many are designed in a way that will allow hair to build up. You may not feel like you are losing hair all over the place in the bath or shower, but you would be surprised at how much is washed down.

If you pull the drain mechanism out and it is covered in hair, you have probably found your clogging problem right there. It is easy to peel all of it off and toss it in the trash, or even burn it and then rinse it right off if it is very entangled. Once you have it back to its original state, replace it and attempt to drain the water again. It should go right down.

Deep Clogging

If your water is still acting problematic, you are probably dealing with a draining problem from deeper within the pipe. There are many ways to deal with these, and some work better than others. The first is to use a drain clearing solution such as Drano. You simply pour it down, and the chemicals act to break down any objects waiting in the path of the water.

This works particularly well for dirt buildups deeper within the drain. A bottle of this stuff will cost you practically nothing compared to the cost of a visit from the plumber, so you might as well give it a try before you give it up and call a pro.

Sometimes you will find that it is an actual substantial object blocking the drain. Find this out by poking a long and flexible object down the drain and probing around for whatever is causing the problem. If you end up finding something, you can clear it out in a number of ways.

One possibility is to run the hose from outside and poke it down the drain until it is touching the object. Then turn it on full-blast. The water will be much more forceful than the normal drained water, so it could very well dislodge the object.

These things should definitely take care of anything blocking your shower drain. If you have done all of them and you still cannot seem to get your shower working properly again, then you should call an expert plumber. You could be dealing with problems in the actual pipes, or something way beyond the reach of anything you could poke down the drain. If this is the case, messing around with it could be harmful, so it is a good idea to have someone look at it who knows what they are doing more.